Waffle House, North Carolina, USA

Waffle House, for the uninitiated, is a chain of breakfast restaurants in the southern US, rivaled only by IHOP. On a walk around Greensville North Carolina I came upon this scene, which I felt reflected the American culture. Inside the restaurant I recreated Edward Hopper's original 'Night Owls' painting, the idea was to provide a more modern urban context for the classic painting. Of course 'night owls' was depicted at night, and this painting is during the day, but who eats pancakes at night. I smell an idea for a new painting here.... This version of Waffle House was painted from two sources, a photograph, and a location painting. I remember well the location paitning experience, lots of cars going by and little red ants biting my butt. Painting from photo is always a challenge because the colours are off, and there is too much detail. I used the location painting to get the colours right, and the photo to nail down some of the details. In the end the work looks a little stiff as compared to the location painting (which I should dig up some time and photograph). The thing that is missing in your studio is the 'environment', the noise, the smell, the air...when on location these elements will channel through the artist and onto the work. Other examples of this concept are my paintings Japan Busy Street, View from Mount Royale, and in general look to Monet and Tom Thompson (and the entire group of seven/Emily Carr) for examples of artists who channeled external energy into their work for great effect. 14x11" hot press, 2002